So...this isn't my best work. I really struggled with this chapter, and I'm not really happy with it, but I've got to move on. I also leave it on a bit of a cliffhanger, but trust that next chapter is action packed and filled with lots of plot. Thanks for reading!
As usual, Emiko had a plan. It was one of her best, if she thought so herself. She was decked out in a pair of white snow pants and a heavy blue coat. She'd pulled her hair into two low ponytails at the side of her head. She looked adorable. Emiko skipped to Chess' room and barged on in. Chess was sitting at her vanity, brushing her hair. She looked up when she saw Emiko and grinned.
"What's up?" She asked excitedly.
"It's snowing outside." Emiko announced. Chess gave a deadpan look.
"Sanguinem has a ceiling." She reminded her seriously. Emiko rolled her eyes.
"I mean, outside, outside. Get your snow clothes on and get Horn. I'm gathering up Lacus, Rene, Mika, and Crowley." Chess gave her a surprised look.
"You're actually inviting Crowley?" She asked. Emiko scoffed and nodded.
"Yeah. I need to kick his butt in a snowball fight." Emiko answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Chess grinned.
"Alright, go find them. I'll get Horn." She relented. Emiko cheered and rushed out, hurrying to find the others. She found Mika, Lacus, and Rene not far in the barracks only a block away from the house. She told (not invited) them that they were heading outside to play in the snow and have a snowball fight. All except Lacus quickly rejected Emiko's orders. Emiko crossed her arms and gave Rene and Mika a pout, sticking out her bottom lip.
"Rene, I handed you your ass yesterday and you really want to refuse?" Emiko snarked. Lacus laughed out loud, clutching at his sides at Emiko's remark. Rene glowered openly at the short human girl, and looked like he very much wanted a rematch. Emiko took advantage of that. "If you come outside, you'll get a rematch via snowball fight…" Emiko trailed off.
"Fine." He relented, realizing that he wasn't getting out of this. Emiko turned to Mika. He glared at her, and she gave a goofy grin.
"Mika, Mika, Mika…" She trailed off with a sigh. "I have a secret." She said playfully. "Krul told me you're looking for someone." His eyes widened, and then narrowed at her insinuation. "I can help you find them, if you be on my team." She bribed. He continued to glare at her, but she knew she had won. She clapped excitedly. "Great! Meet us outside the gates in Twenty!" Then she hurried back to the house to find the loathed one. The devil himself, Crowley.
She barged into his office, and walked right up to his desk. She slammed her hands down on his desk, and he looked up at her with a grin, already aware he was in for some entertainment. She grinned sweetly. "It's snowy out. We're having a snowball fight. It's you against me, winner earns the title of the most awesome person in the world!" She challenged, pointing at him dramatically.
"Very well." He answered, standing. "Lead the way." She was surprised it was that easy, but she figured Crowley was probably curious to see how this would turn out. Afterall, Emiko had a habit of making things interesting. They all met outside the gates of Sanguinem, where the snow had piled up to two feet. Snow still rained from above.
"Alright!" Emiko yelled, putting her hands on her hips. "We're separating into teams! My team members are Mika, Chess, and Lacus. You get Horn and Rene." She expected him to argue about her choosing the teams, but he didn't. Instead he smiled indulgently, and asked what the bases were. Emiko pointed behind her, claiming that side of the gate as her base. Naturally, Crowley had the other side as his base. "We each have a ten minute grace period to set up our base and prepare ammo. Then, it's all out war!" She shouted and then turned to her team.
"What's the plan boss?" Lacus asked. Mika glared at Lacus, but he simply ignored him. Emiko paced in a militia inspired stance, hands placed behind her back and wearing a strict expression.
"Chess, Lacus, begin on the base. We need a tall wall of Snow as cover. Mika and I will begin making snowballs." She immediately got to work, building snowballs at a breakneck pace, determined to outdo Crowley. She didn't dare look over to see how his side was doing, too focused on making enough ammo. She turned to Mika, and hit his shoulder when she found he wasn't helping. He grumbled and joined her in making snowballs. Emiko turned to check on Lacus' and Chess' work. They were working at high speed, already having build a tall wall of snow that was about half a foot wide. It was perfect cover.
The ten minutes ended too quickly, and Emiko dove behind the wall of snow, arms full of snowballs at the ready. She yelled a battle cry as she stood up, searching for her first target. She caught Rene standing up boredly, and she threw a snowball his way, effectively hitting him in the face. He glared at her hatefully. Emiko smiled sweetly, and threw another snowball. He dodged it, and grabbed snow off the ground, tossing it at her. Emiko dodged.
The fight began, with the rest of Emiko's team and Horn joining the fight. They threw snowball after snowball, and then dodging whenever they could. Emiko had yet to spot Crowley though, and she began to get suspicious. She knew he had something planned, and she needed to hurry to their base if she had a chance of winning. She stooped beneath the wall, and pulled Chess to look at her.
"I'm going to their base! Keep firing and don't let me get pelted!" She warned her. Emiko stood and ran, dodging snowballs as she raced across the clearing towards their base. Horn and Rene focused their attention on Emiko as she approached, but her dodging skills could not be greater. She was nearly to their base, when she was pelted in the head with a snowball. The force was so strong, she actually hit the ground. She laid there, utterly shocked at her defeat. That snowball had come out of nowhere. She sat up, to find Crowley leaning over her, smirking playfully.
"Does this mean I win?" He asked slyly. She glared at him. He laughed and stood up straight, turning to leave. Emiko took that as her chance, and made a snowball and threw it at the back of his head. Surprisingly, it hit. He froze in his spot, and then slowly turned around. Emiko screamed and stumbled to her feet, turning to run. Her back was pelted with snowballs, and she laughed, leaning down to catch more snow in her hand and created another snowball. She tossed it behind her, not stopping to see if it had hit its target. Soon though, she found herself being hit again and again, and she realized that no one person could throw that many snowballs at once. She turned and ate powder. Everything froze as her jaw dropped and she stared at the traitors before her.
"You all teamed up against me!" She shouted in outrage, staring at the amused expressions on each of their faces. After Crowley's initial attack, they had all joined his team. "Traitors!" Emi yelled, and kicked snow up at them. They looked at each other, and then started to throw snowballs at her again. Emiko shrieked and held her hands up in front of her face, blocking.
"Okay, Okay!" She yelled, laughing. "I concede! You win!" She yelled. The hits stopped, and Emiko peaked over her hands, checking to see if they were finished. They seemed to be done, so she lowered her hands to her sides and glared at them. "That was so cheating!" She shouted at them belligerently. Crowley walked forward, and flicked her on the forehead. She leaned back on her heels in surprise. He'd never done that before. Still, she would not be outdone. She gave a battle cry and launched herself at Crowley, effectively tackling him to the ground. She landed atop him, and she held him down by the shoulders.
"I think I win!" she shouted triumphantly, smirking down at him. He quirked an eyebrow, and flipped their positions, with Emiko now lying on the cold snow. She scowled up at him, and sat up, pushing him off of her. "You're annoying." She muttered, but was in too good of a mood to let her grin stay hidden for long. Soon she was smiling and laughing again, and she tossed snow into Crowley's face, laughing even harder. He smiled back at her. A real smile, not a smirk or a grin. A smile that said he enjoyed her company. Her grin faded a little at that realization, and she studied him for a second, trying to find the hidden secret in his expression. She couldn't find one. There was nothing manipulative or sly about the expression. It was genuine, and that made her feel uncomfortable.
Manipulation, cunning, cleverness, all things Emiko had become accustomed to while living in this new world of hers. But real? No, nothing was real anymore for her. Except, that smile was, and it confused her. How did she respond to an honest smile? She didn't know. She decided that instead of being confused, she would fall back into the snow and make a snow angel. That sounded much easier.
"What are you doing?" Chess asked, leaning over Emiko curiously.
"Making a snow angel. Ever made one?" She asked. Chess shrugged.
"As a human child, probably." She answered. Emiko patted the snow beside her. Chess shrugged to herself and lied back on the floor, following Emiko's movements to make her own Snow angel. Emiko stood up then, and took a look at her snow angel. It was was very pretty. She leaned over it, making a small halo atop her head. She smiled in satisfaction.
The fun in the snow was over all too soon. Emiko looked down at the snow angels, and it made her question something. It had been a long time since she'd been to church. At least, she thinks it was. She remembered going every sunday as a child. Emiko didn't consider herself particularly religious. She did believe in god though, and angels. She figured, if demons were real, then angels had to be too.
"Have any of you ever met an angel?" She figured it was a solid question. Afterall, they were all vampires who were hundreds of years old. Well, most of them. That gave them centuries to have met such a creature.
"They don't exist." She was surprised it was Crowley who answered her. She looked at him over her shoulder curiously.
"Of course they exist." She scoffed. He raised an eyebrow. She rolled her eyes. "If demons exist, then angels have to exist." He crossed his arms and smirked at her.
"You believe everything in this world has to have an opposite?" He asked curiously. Emiko shrugged.
"Hmmm…" Emiko trailed off. They were all walking back to Sanguinem now, through the gates and down the stairs. "Not I do believe the things that represent good and evil have opposites."
"What about vampires?" Mika asked. Emiko stopped walking, and gave him an observant look. She seemed to be trying to decide something. Finally, she sighed and shook her head.
"Idiot." She muttered. She turned to face the group of them. "You really believe vampires are all evil?" She asked. He nodded, face serious. She sighed dramatically. "Vampires are about as evil as humans. Which is only relative to who someone decides to be." They all watched her with varying degrees of interest. Despite her attitude, most of them had believed that Emiko truly hated vampires because of what they had done to her. Mika knew different, but only because she had told him so. Crowley found this development interesting. He, like the others, had assumed that Emiko hated vampires. Most humans these days did. She always became angry when someone mentioned drinking her blood, and she had a natural caution to vampires, even if she didn't show it.
So her philosophy surprised him, and even more surprisingly, pleased him.
Chess, Horn, Crowley, and Emiko arrived back at the mansion. They'd parted ways with Mika, Lacus, and Rene not far back, the three of them returning to their guard duties. The three nobles also had work to be done, and so they left Emiko alone. Emiko headed straight for the library.
Emiko didn't use the library often. She wasn't much of a reader. She liked stories, but she preferred to hear them or watch them on the television. It probably came from the fact that Emiko's kanji wasn't the best. She didn't know if she attended classes while in the army, but if she did, she didn't do a very good job of paying attention. Though Japanese was her first language, she could read in french better than in Kanji.
Still, Emiko had been using the library often these past few days. She had been doing all kinds of research. About vampires, demons, the horsemen of the apocalypse, but mostly about demons. She needed to know what Mirai had meant about the two sides of her tearing her apart. Emiko didn't want to go insane, and she had no intention of doing so. She figured with enough effort put in, she could find a way to stop that from happening. She just had to keep searching.
Unfortunately, nothing was helping. Crowley's library didn't have much on demons, and she was starting to get frustrated. The idea did occur to her to find that man, Guren. But she was hesitant. She wasn't sure if she could defeat him in a fight. There was something about him that was...dangerous. She hadn't realized it at the time, but when she was speaking with him, she had been frightened of him.
But, Emiko's need for answers was slowly becoming more important than her fear. Ever since her last episode, she'd been desperate to find a way to survive. She was holding up the pretenses of being okay, but only just. She was scared. She didn't want to go insane. She wanted to live.
The doors to the library creaked open slightly, and Emiko turned to see who had joined her. Crowley walked through the doors, eyes searching for something until they landed on Emiko. "Are you studying?" He seemed amused by the prospect, which annoyed Emiko, but she ignored it. She nodded instead.
"Just trying to find answers. Unfortunately, you don't have many books on demons." She admitted. He nodded and walked further into the room, taking a seat opposite her. His eyes searched over the titles of the books and then looked to her.
"I don't think you'll find any answers in here." He responded. Emiko shrugged and sighed, propping her face up on the palm of her hand. Her relationship with Crowley had changed slightly since their strange flirting. He still found her amusing, and still treated her as entertainment, but he talked to her more like a person now. He'd even actually called her Emiko the other day.
"The freakouts are getting closer and closer together." She pointed out. "If I don't find an answer soon, I might end up in an insane asylum." She felt even more miserable stating it aloud.
"Mirai-" he started, but she cut him off.
"Is a demon." She interrupted with a glare. "The only times Mirai is honest is when it'll benefit her. Besides, she's already said she can't do anything about the state we're in." He grinned, and tisked.
"Demons always know more than they say they do. Let me talk to her." Emiko bit her lip nervously. She was actually considering it. Crowley could be very persuasive, and Emiko knew for a fact that Mirai liked conversing with Crowley. Something about him being 'interesting'. Is that all immortal beings cared about? She supposed it was true. Living so long probably meant you got bored easily.
"Fine." Emiko caved reluctantly. It seems Crowley had been expecting her to give, because he had the pills on him. He pulled out the one that would force Mirai to the surface, but it turns out they didn't need it. The next second he looked up, he met red eyes and white hair with Emiko's face. She was still sitting, and she looked like a mixture between perfectly pleasant and bored. She regarded him curiously with those red orbs.
"You wanted to talk?" She asked lowly. Crowley nodded, and leaned forward.
"You have answers." He stated pleasantly. A ghost of a smirk crossed her lips.
"Perhaps." She answered mysteriously. "What do I get in return?" Crowley smiled eagerly.
"You sound just like her." He responded in amusement. Mirai lifted a brow.
"Really? Maybe Emiko sounds like me." She retorted. Crowley laughed.
"Maybe." He agreed. "But you're getting off topic. What do you want?" He asked. Mirai hummed to herself and leaned back in her chair. She seemed to be thinking about it, but Crowley had a suspicion she already knew what she wanted.
"I want out of this body. Find a way to free me, and i'll answer every question you have."
…
Mirai was no help, as Emiko suspected. Crowley seemed to find her interesting though, which was annoying. Emiko lied back on her bed with a sigh. "Mirai…" Emiko trailed off unsurely. "Can you hear me?" She asked.
Of course I can you hear you, idiot.
Emiko nearly fell off the bed. She honestly hadn't been expecting a response, especially not one inside of her head. Emiko's eyes darted around the room, as if expecting to find Mirai hanging around. Of course, that didn't happen. "Can you always hear me?" Emiko whispered unsurely. It was silent for a moment.
Yes.
"Awkward. So, you mind telling me how to separate us?" More silence.
How is it possible for one human to be so stupid?
Emiko felt offended. "What does that mean? It's a valid question!" Emiko protested.
It means if I actually knew how to do that, I would've already said something.
Oh. That made sense. "Help me out here!" Then, Emiko sighed, laying her arm over her eyes. "I'm so lost. What am I supposed to do? Isn't there anything else I can give you to get some answers?" The silence after went on for so long, Emiko was sure Mirai was ignoring her now. Instead, Mirai replied with some mischief.
There is one thing…
….
Emiko freaking hated Mirai. She couldn't understand why she would be so terrible-oh right, she's a demon. Sometimes Emiko forgot that. Emiko headed down the hall with growing dread. She honestly couldn't believe she was doing this. The universe had to be against her.
Emiko knocked hesitantly on Crowley's office door. She didn't wait for a response, and instead walked right in. Crowley sat behind his desk, looking over paperwork as usual. He looked up when she entered. "Yes-" Emiko didn't give him a chance to finish his sentence. She marched right over to him, sat down on the edge of his desk, and pulled him into a heated Kiss. The kiss lasted mere seconds, and Emiko pulled away as fast as she had gone in. Crowley, was caught in a rare moment of surprise.
Emiko's cheeks blazed and she promptly punched him. She huffed in annoyance and stood, storming out of his office, slamming the door closed behind her. Crowley stared at the door, and then shook his head. "A thousand years, and women still make no sense." He murmured with a bit of a chuckle, and then returned to his work.
Emiko stomped down the hallway, muttering to herself (well, to herself to anyone who came across her, she was actually cursing Mirai) as she returned to her room. She slammed that door shut too, and lunged for her bed, hugging her pillow.
"Mirai, I hate you!" Emiko yelled. She kicked her feet repeatedly.
Don't pretend you didn't enjoy it.
Mirai's voice was smug. Emiko wished she had a physical form, so she could punch her too. Emiko glared at the wall, and then punched it. She broke a hole through the pretty pink wall, but it definitely made Emiko feel better. "I wish that was your face." Emiko muttered. She heard Mirai's haunting laugh.
Oh come now, don't you want answers?
Emiko bit her lip. She did want to get answers, but she was so embarrassed and angry at the moment. She wanted to tell Mirai to fuck off, but she didn't think that would get her anywhere. So, with some work, she calmed her temper and sighed.
"Alright. Tell me."
Close your eyes. I'm going to show you how we became like this.
Emiko closed her eyes.